Susan Saint James Dies: ‘Kate & Allie’ and ‘McMillan & Wife’ Actress Was 80

Susan Saint James — the actress best known for her roles in Kate & Allie and McMillan & Wife — has died at 80.

On Monday, October 26, James died after a battle with pancreatic cancer, a representative for the star confirmed to People. Her family remembered her in a statement as being “generous with her time and energy, which she valued more than money, and instinctively drawn to whoever needed lifting up. She taught her children to pause, be kind, and look out for other people.”

The statement added, “She never met a stranger. Every person she met became the most important person in the room at that moment, from a fellow board member to the clerk at the shoe store, who usually walked away knowing her entire life story. Her defining act: weeks after losing her youngest son, Teddy, in the November 28, 2004 plane crash, she delivered his eulogy as a note to each of her other children and her husband, giving them words to heal. Even in the deepest grief of her life, she put everyone else first. Days after the crash, she sat with Tim Russert to thank the people who had reached out and to tell them the family was okay.”

Additionally, James’ family noted that she “brought that same fire and positivity to everything that followed, and never lost it.”

In Kate & Allie, James played Kate McArdle alongside Jane Curtin‘s Allie Lowell. The series aired for six seasons from 1984 to 1989. She also portrayed Sally McMillan opposite Rock Hudson‘s Stewart McMillan in McMillan & Wife, which ran for six seasons from 1971 to 1977.

James is also known for her roles in the TV series The Name of the Game and the film Love at First Bite (1979), among other acting credits.

The actress is survived by her husband, Dick Ebersol; four children, Sunshine Lucas, Harmony Lucas, Charlie Ebersol, and Willie Ebersol; and seven grandchildren.